


Bring Him Home

by murderbreak



Series: Readjust [1]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Josh Makes it Out, Body Trauma, Chris to the Rescue, Established Relationship, F/M, Josh goes wendigo, Mentions of Blood, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 22:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10558544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murderbreak/pseuds/murderbreak
Summary: It's not like you didn't consider worst case scenario. You just chose to keep at least a sliver of hope with you.





	

They weren't going to let you at first. They insisted that, for the sake of less casualties, only the selected team would go down into the mines for retrieval. But you insisted. You had to go. If you didn't, more people will die, and the retrieval would be for nothing. So they geared you up, gave you a nice little headlight to wear to see your way into the mines. You led the way, wanting to be the first person to see the damage done. None of your friends knew you were down here. This was smart to be a secret. You led the team in, navigating as safely as you could into the cold recesses of the mine.

A part of you would say you're freezing cold, but the other half of you knows that you're used to this by now. The further you and the team got, the colder you saw them become. They don't know what's down here. They don't know the horrors. You wish you didn't either.

Finally came the large in-cave lake that seemed far too serene for a deadly place like this. “We need to be on the lookout,” you called. “We’re close. Keep yourselves on guard, but don't be ready to attack unless direly necessary. We're on a rescue mission.”

It's not like you didn't consider worst case scenario. You just chose to keep at least a sliver of hope with you.

You lowered yourself into the water, hissing. It chilled you to the marrow of your bones, and you swore your joints were freezing. Still, you kept the image of Josh, safe and at home, away from this horrible place, in your head, and that drove you on. You heard the others getting in behind you, hearing their own protests and hisses as the water invaded their clothes and sapped the warmth away from their bodies.

You trudged forward, panting heavily now. This water was not working with you, and the bottom was uneven. It made walking hard, but the end of the pond was in sight. You were almost there. You almost had him.

If -- when -- you and Josh survive this, he owed you a nice long hot bath in his fancy goddamn tub at his fancy goddamn mansion.

Finally the bottom was rising up, and walking was as easy as moving through 5 foot snow. You reached for the small cliff of the edge of the pond, hoisting yourself up and doing the human equivalent of shaking yourself off. You stood off to the side while the rest of the team pulled themselves up as well. You stepped closer towards the doorway, peeking inside. You could hear something; it was close to a weird clicking noise mixed with a growl. This had to be it.

Once everyone was up, you led them into the next part of this never fucking ending tunnel. You told them to hush; something was close. Your chest felt tight and your stomach was fluttering so hard you thought you were going to throw up. You felt like you were going to throw up. What would even come up if you threw up?

Whatever thought process you had stopped the moment you saw him. He was crouched, and with nothing else in sight you could tell the noises were all coming from him. Your heart was in your throat, blood pounding in your ears, and if you thought your chest felt tight before it was nothing compared to right now. Your ribs felt too tight.

Josh was in a closed off portion of the mines, nothing but rock walls surrounding him. The moon shown through a large opening at the top, and you had to think it was a cliff edge; the cliff edge Emily described as the one Hannah and Beth fell down. It wasn't too much of a surprise that the third Washington would end up here too.

You turned to the group behind you. “There he is,” you whispered. “We’re here to bring him back, so let's remember we're not here for attack. We just need to subdue him. Let me handle him, and when there's an opportunity, come in, get him with the serum, and we’ll be in the clear.” The group nodded. It was time to shine.

You made your way into the cave, and as you got closer, his growls got louder. It instilled a sense of fear in you. You weren't sure how this would end. You'd kept your mind on best case scenarios. “Hey,” you said. Your voice was meant to be confident, but it came out as just above a breathy whisper. Still, it'd grabbed his attention.

You couldn't help but gasp when you saw him.

The side of his face was splitting, rows of sharp teeth protruding from the laceration. It was bloody, stained red, but if that was his blood or someone else’s you didn't know. You didn't want to. His eyes looked glazed over, not quite milky, but the usual color was dulled and faded. He was almost head to toe covered in red, but you still hoped for the best. Still, it was hard to believe that this was Josh. You wished it wasn’t.

Josh seemed intrigued by you. A new presence in his dark world. He smelled the air, growled, came closer to you. You couldn’t help but think he was like a creature from one of his family’s horror films or like one of the stupid movies you two used to watch. Josh always had a stickler for creature features.

He came close, far to close than your comfort level called for. He sniffed at you, looking at you while looking through you. It wasn’t right. It made your heart hurt, and your fear was running rampant. Still, you kept your place. Any wrong move could cause disaster. You needed to make this work. This had to work.

You’d never forgive yourself if it didn’t.

You stepped back, finding the wall pressing against your back, and you froze automatically. He could devour you right here. He could rip you apart limb from limb and feed the insatiable hunger he was feeling. Your heart was pounding and you had absolutely no doubt he could hear it. He had to. You stared at the jagged teeth that protruded from his mouth, at the blood that covered them. That could be you.

His breath was hot on your throat, and suddenly his cold hand was around it, squeezing. You gasped as the breath was taken from you, your hands enclosing around his wrist as he pinned you to the wall. And yet, he hadn’t done much else to harm you. From what you’ve heard, the horror stories you and your friends witnessed, Wendigos would automatically aim to kill. You should be dead.

You’re not.

“Josh…” you gasped. Your eyes trailed up, up past the mouth to the eyes of the boy you’ve come to save. You hoped to save. “J-Josh, it’s me…” You tried to breathe, take in air into your aching lungs, but he pressed harder. Your throat was aching, your lungs burning, and you thought to struggle but figured it’d only make this whole thing worse. You had to keep trying.

“J-Josh… It’s me, c-c’mon, you remember me, right..?” You wheezed out a laugh. “Y-you’d love and hate the way you’d look, if this was o-one of your movies. Blood and guts and silly creatures that take a liking to the pretty girl. Classic tropes of a cr-creature feature.” You started to reach out a shaky hand then, pressing against the damaged cheek. It was a strange sensation, feeling such dangerous weapons against the shaking palm of your hand. He could bite it off in the blink of an eye. You were afraid.

You brushed your thumb above the line of his mouth (could that really be considered his mouth?) and Josh seemed to pause. He wasn’t growling anymore; it stopped the moment you touched him.

That had to mean something.

You smiled, and it felt sad because it was sad because you're looking at the boy you love turn into a monster. Your chest ached, with fear, with hurt, sadness. Or maybe that was the lack of air. You chalked it up to both. You smoothed your thumb over the bumpy and torn skin, and his eyes, his faded eyes, looked at you with a sense of wonder. Like the light at the dark end of the tunnel. “We’re gonna get you home, Josh.”

You had him. You had him curling around your finger and he had you by the throat and then his grip was loosening and he looked tired. You hadn't noticed that the team had come in, giving Josh the serum and then Josh was falling and the grip on your throat was gone. You fell with a gasp, trying to get more air in your lungs. You touched your throat where his hand had been and winced; you'd be seeing that later. But that didn't matter.

Josh was down, and the mission was completed.

Once you got the air back in your lungs, you sat up, looking over Josh. He was slumped over, bloody, changed. You wanted to cry -- you were crying, actually. You hadn't realized until you felt a drop hit your hand. You sat closer to him, stroking your hand over his face as one of the members called up the helicopter to take him home. He'd be going to the nearest hospital for treatment, somewhere where they took care of this kinda thing. Whatever… whatever this thing was.

“You're coming home,” you whispered, and you weren't sure if it was for yourself or him and it made you cry a little more. You stroked his hair with his head in your lap, ignoring any looks or slight protests of the team. You had Josh. You had him, and you weren't going to lose him again.

Even if it meant you were almost lost in the process.

You didn't part with him for a second, not even when the helicopter came. The team had given him enough of the tranquilizer to knock him out for the whole trip. You were safe. And he would be too. You kept his head in your lap, stroking his hair and ignoring the ache in your throat. You thought you tasted copper and it hurt to swallow but you ignored it, staring blankly out into the cold night while your fingers routinely ran through dark curls. “You should get that checked out,” a crew member said, looking at you with worry. He reminded you of Chris.

You shrugged. You didn't knew if you could speak. You weren't sure if you wanted to. It felt like if you opened your mouth you'd start sobbing or screaming and you didn't feel like you'd stop. Still he was worried and kept a close eye on you all the way to the hospital. You didn't let go of Josh's hand until he was behind the doors. You got taken to a doctor by the crew member who looked like Chris and it made you think about how you were supposed to hang out this weekend. You agreed on a sleepover and only the finest of old school slashers.

You were silent through your treatment. You were told there was slight trauma to your esophagus, and with a bandage around your throats you were told to rest and take it easy. You were given some pain meds and with the team member in mind and Josh in your heart you texted Chris to pick you up. You could start your weekend early.

When he came he didn't say anything and neither did you. Your eyes welled up and when a whimper left your throat pain surged through you, and Chris took you into his arms and you had to keep down your sobs because everything hurt; your heart, your head, your throat, your chest. It all hurt. Chris took you to his place, no words exchanged between you two.

You stayed at his place wrapped up in blankets and his old sweatshirts that didn't fit him anymore but kept around for the sake of layers. Layers were good. Chris was good. He looked at you like that rescue team member and your heart clenched.

You never said a word about Josh. 


End file.
